The present invention relates to an adaptive crash structure for a vehicle body or chassis of a motor vehicle.
Nothing in the following discussion of the state of the art is to be construed as an admission of prior art.
Heretofore, complex metal castings have been used in front or rear zones of a motor vehicle, in particular when crash structures and chassis parts are involved. Employing castings of aluminum, aluminum alloys or other suitable cast materials result in weight saving while still allowing realization of complex structures. In order to meet the demand for resilience in the event of impact, relatively thick-walled and rigid castings have been combined to date with thin-walled deformation members, for example through incorporation of an extrusion profile using a welding operation. The connection between castings and interposed deformation member is difficult to implement as several single parts have to be separately manufactured, handled, positioned, and welded together. The welding operation generates heat which causes parts to warp so that effective surfaces and boreholes require refinishing after assembly to stay within admissible tolerances. Still, such structures tend to warp even after machining and in addition require also special protection for transport.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved adaptive crash structure which obviates prior art shortcomings and which is easy to manufacture while functioning reliably in the event of a crash.